Bruckheimer & Disney Drop Some Serious Cash on 'Lightspeed'

Jerry Bruckheimer Films, in (usual) conjunction with the Disney Movie Machine, has dropped about $3.5 million on a new screenplay by Terry Rossio and Bill Marsilii. The property is called Lightspeed, and according to Variety, the "story centers on a young pilot who makes the Earth Interstellar Racing Team and must take his ship on a perilous journey across the galaxy on the brink of war." So sort of like Ender's Game meets Star Wars pod racing? Probably not. Sign me up anyway.

Variety also reminds us that this duo earned an even bigger paycheck back in 2004 ... for the script that eventually became the half-decent Denzel Washington thriller Deja Vu. The IMDb indicates that Mr. Marsilii also has adaptations of The Wind in the Willows and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in development. As far as Mr. Rossio is concerned, hell, you know this guy. Usually partnered with screenwriter Ted Elliott, Rossio is the writer (or co-writer) of Aladdin, Shrek, all three four Pirates of the Caribbean movies, both of those Antonio Banderas Zorro flicks, National Treasure 2, and Godzilla. A rather prolific (and successful) writer this man is.

Used to be that a script sale like this would always come with a comment about "franchise possibilities," but no more. Now we get this: "Bruckheimer envisions the project as a live-action and potentially 3D pic." Yay, more 3D. Still, outer space racing sounds pretty fun to me.